ORLANDO, Fla. -- An employee discovered a human fetus Thursday morning in a wastewater tank at an Orlando water conservation plant, police said.

Orlando police officers went to the plant, located at 5420 LB McLeod Road, at about 8:20 a.m. after receiving a call from a worker at the facility.

According to Orlando police, the worker reported finding an apparent human fetus in a wastewater tank while raking filtration screens on a sewer collection system.

The fetus, described by a facility supervisor as smaller than an adult hand, was examined by the medical examiner's office and determined to have a gestational age of 14 to 15 weeks, according to the medical examiner. The sex and race of the fetus could not be determined.

At that gestational age, parents are not legally required to report a miscarriage.

An OB/GYN said there are no requirements on how to dispose of a fetus that young, which is why police are not launching a criminal investigation into the matter.

Investigators would still like to hear from the parents, who may not have imagined their unborn child would end up in the treatment facility.

The law requires that mothers report the death of a fetus to the medical examiner if it is more than 20 weeks along.

"I would hope that if somebody wanted to call us, they would understand that we want to know what happened," Orlando police Sgt. Barb Jones said. "Whether it's a crime, whether it's not, I think that if somebody does know something happened, I think for closure in their own personal life, it would probably give them a more peaceful life."

The fetus would have passed though several pumping stations, as well as the facility's master pumping station, before reaching the collection system where it was found.

A supervisor said it is not unusual to find objects, such as bricks, money, and toys, but he said in 17 years of work, he has never seen a fetus. He did say that workers will sometimes receive a scare when a toy doll turns up.

The plant services residential and commercial areas in an area bordered by state Road 50 on the north, International Drive to the, MetroWest on the west and near downtown Orlando to the east.

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